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Originally Posted by dc_dux
Budget proposals start at the White House.
Clinton's last three budget proposals were balanced budgets (with surpluses) and negotiated with a Republican Congress.
His first five budget proposals paid down the Reagan/Bush debt with lower annual deficits each year and those were negotiated with a Democratic Congress.
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The hand off to Clinton from Republican administrations was pretty sweet. Reagan absorbed the pain of correcting the debacle of stagflation caused by an ineffective Jimmy Carter. The economy was put on the right track.
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I dont recall either Reagan or GHW Bush ever proposing a balanced budget. Certainly, GW Bush never did.
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If you recall when Reagan took office there was no economic growth, interest rates were in double digits, Iran was out of control, and we were in the Cold War with Russia. The man had some work to do, he did it and set the table for economic growth and stability.
While Clinton was in office, after the fact, we find that we had "irrational exuberance" in the stock market with uncontrolled speculation which artificially bolstered tax revenues. And this gave false readings of economic growth. We had the roots of major corporate scandals, like Enron and World Com. We also had irrational speculation in real estate take root under the Clinton administration. This lead to people using home equity like credit card accounts, it also gave false readings of economic growth and helped bolster tax revenues. And we had the ME extremist planning attacks on our nation.
So, Bush takes office and the economy goes into recession, the stock market bubble had burst, we have 9/11, we go to war, we have the real estate market correct, we have major financial institutions fail and write off billions in losses.
But, after all of that Bush got us out of the recession, we improved national security, we withstood the stock market decline, we are holding our own with the real estate and financial market crisis, and (this is big) the economy is still growing. Imagine that.
Oh, and he cut taxes but tax revenues are up.
Oh, and he cut taxes on the "rich" but the "rich" now pay a bigger percentage of taxes than they did before.
So again we have a Republican President who had some work to do, did what needed to be done so that the next President will have an easier road. Obama should thank Bush.
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The national debt increased significantly under Reagan/Bush, decreased under Clinton, and zoomed to record levels under GW Bush.
The myth is that the Republicans are the fiscally responsible party.
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Republican's have not been fiscally responsible, but Democrats have not been either. To think a Democratic President and a Democratic Congress are going to employ longterm policy to insure economic growth and reduce spending is laughable, in my opinion. I predict taxes will go up, economic growth will slow, middle class Americans will pick up a bigger burden of taxes paid, government entitlement will expand with fewer working American citizens to support these programs, inflation will increase (inflation is a central government's magic wand getting rid of or reducing debt - pay the debt with deflated currency), employment growth will slow, crime will increase, education standards will get worse, more major corporations doing business in the US will be based in other nations, and global warming will continue.
